Vere Sandal To Make Greener Thongs in USA

One of the persistent gripes we get from our USA readers is "Okay, so product x is greener, but why does it have to be made in China? Can't we make it here?" John Eades, and business partner Michael Ferreri, will be hoping those readers vote with wallets and buy their new line of Vere Sandal made-in-the-USA thongs, flip-flops, jandals, or whatever you call them at your beach.

Vere aim to keep their thongs reasonably priced by streamlining manufacturing, reducing material and energy waste. The thongs will feature locally sourced recycled nylon webbing, and leather tanned without the use of harmful, heavy metals, and an EVA foam sole with pre-consumer recycled content. In an interview with Shop Eat Surf, Vere Sandal note that :

"At the end of the day, it is still made of EVA, but we use recycled nylon in our straps and recycled content in our EVA. Our goal is to eliminate as much waste in the production process as possible. We do that by buying EVA cut to size and by shape, and then our EVA supplier recycles scraps and puts that into future materials.

Our leathers are chrome free leathers so we can grind up any waste and give to local farmers who can use it in fertilizer. Our goal is to have no trash in our production process; we're going to be pretty close."

"EVA has been the toughest thing to source. Unable to find a domestic manufacturer that was willing or able to recycle the leftover scrap, Eades and Ferreri are getting their footbeds from China, where the factory will cut the footbeds from recycled EVA and then incorporate all the scrap into the next day's batch. But, the duo said, they're hoping a U.S. source will materialize as the brand grows."

The Vere thongs are to be made in Geneva, in New York state, and are due for release this month, with prices expected to range from $25 to $50 for the women's and men's models. Keep an eye on Vere Sandal Company for launch details.

One of the persistent gripes we get from our USA readers is "Okay, so product x is greener, but why does it have to be made in China? Can't we make it here?" John Eades, and business partner Michael Ferreri, will be hoping